Apple TV Coming in 2012?

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Apple's in development to create a television set to use with its iCloud technology that could debut next year, an analyst report said.

While Apple’s commitment to the living room remains a “hobby,” we continue to believe the company will enter the TV market with a full focus, as an all-in-one Apple television could move the needle when connected TVs proliferate. We estimate that of the 220m flat panel TVs sold in 2012, 48% or 106m units will be Internet-connected, of which Apple could sell 1.4m units.

The analyst, Gene Munster, has been talking about this for the better part of a year -- but as we all know, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Munster seems to think that Apple's iOS apps like NBA, MLB and Netflix are already on board, so the transition will be seamless -- especially with iCloud offering easy media storage. A report this week from Daily Tech, allegedly an exclusive from a former Apple executive, also seemed to add fuel to the fire. Then there are reports about Apple's TV-oriented patents.

Our gut reactions is that Apple already has it's set-top Apple TV, so why would it bother creating unnecessary hardware? There are already plenty of HDTV, Internet-ready televisions out there. Apple would be competing with manufacturers such as Samsung, Sony and LG, which are already established brands with factories in place. While the Apple television would have Apple internal hardware, most televisions would be iOS-ready without Apple having to create them.

While Munster does have an interesting theory, we can't see the Apple television scenario as anything more than an educated guess.